Same ... or similar at least. I always had a bit of a soft spot for Stevie. It was mostly an awesome debut just because of the result, but I'll take it. If nothing else, he had a basic formational gameplan and stuck to it ... which was NOT what Smith had been doing. I'l always like Dean and he's a real Villa man to the core, but that thing of devising a completely different approach to every game was rubbish.
| # | Team | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chelsea | 9 | 2 | 1 | 30 | 4 | 26 | 29 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 8 | 2 | 2 | 25 | 6 | 19 | 26 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 7 | 4 | 1 | 35 | 11 | 24 | 25 |
| 4 | West Ham United | 7 | 2 | 3 | 23 | 14 | 9 | 23 |
| 5 | Arsenal | 6 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 17 | -4 | 20 |
| 6 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 6 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 19 |
| 7 | Tottenham Hotspur | 6 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 17 | -6 | 19 |
| 8 | Manchester United | 5 | 2 | 5 | 20 | 21 | -1 | 17 |
| 9 | Brighton and Hove Albion | 4 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 14 | -2 | 17 |
| 10 | Crystal Palace | 3 | 7 | 2 | 18 | 17 | 1 | 16 |
| 11 | Everton | 4 | 3 | 5 | 16 | 19 | -3 | 15 |
| 12 | Leicester City | 4 | 3 | 5 | 16 | 21 | -5 | 15 |
| 13 | Southampton | 3 | 5 | 4 | 11 | 14 | -3 | 14 |
| 14 | Brentford | 3 | 4 | 5 | 16 | 17 | -1 | 13 |
| 15 | Aston Villa | 4 | 1 | 7 | 16 | 20 | -4 | 13 |
| 16 | Watford | 4 | 1 | 7 | 16 | 20 | -4 | 13 |
| 17 | Leeds United | 2 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 20 | -8 | 11 |
| 18 | Burnley | 1 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 20 | -6 | 9 |
| 19 | Norwich City | 2 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 27 | -20 | 8 |
| 20 | Newcastle United | 0 | 6 | 6 | 15 | 27 | -12 | 6 |
I sure hope so. Was a huge fan of his from the last Norwich promotion. Had hoped we'd sign him for squad depth for the last few seasons. Was happy he signed for a big side like Villa (yeah, I said it).
Interesting. German manager who kind of kicked off the trend towards pressurized football in Germany, with the end result being Red Bull's high pressing, multi-club system. He got kicked upstairs a long time ago though, so he must have gotten a serious itch to get his hands dirty on the touch line again. Honestly, he's a guy that could signal a big sea change in how Man United go about their business .... or he could purely be a caretaker to keep them from coming off the rails even further and nothing more. If they are serious about making a directional change this could be the first of several changes ... or not. Who ever knows with this crowd?
